Tuesday, January 26, 2016

The Ten Commandments: II
“American Idols”

Exodus 20:4-6
Romans 1:18-25


            Years ago, when I was living right next door to the church, I came home a bit early for lunch, made a sandwich, opened a soft drink and went into the family room to catch a bit of the news.  When I turned on the T.V. a talk show came was just finishing up.  On the screen were several women and men dressed in provocative clothing.  Beneath the picture, electronically inscribed on the screen was the subject for the program.  It read, "Strippers for God".

            Well, that caught my attention because I had not expected anything nearly so theological.  Evidently, these people who barred it all for a living, claimed to be Bible believing, spirit-filled, born-again Christians; so, the discussion centered on the question, “Can one be a stripper and a Christian at the same time?” Evidently there was quite some disagreement between the people up front and those in the audience who thought this might be an occupation that could lead others into sin.  When someone from the audience questioned the possibility that you could do both in good conscience, one of the folks up front irately responded, "Well, my god thinks it’s alright; if your god doesn't - well that's too bad!"

            That’s when I started to talk to the T.V. "Wait a minute, there is just one God.  There is not my god, not your god, not his god, not her god.  There is just one God, “the Lord almighty, maker of heaven and earth."[1]  One of the key texts in all of scripture, the Shema, says so plainly, "Hear O Israel, The Lord is God; the Lord is One God."[2]

            Who God is and what is God’s Will though is clearly up for discussion and often-heated debate.  That’s why people say, “my God thinks this is alright; if your God doesn’t, well that’s too bad.”  But, is the nature and character of God something for us to determine all by ourselves, or has God revealed himself to us in ways that go beyond our personal preference and prejudice?

            People of the book believe God has revealed himself in the words spoken and written and expressed in the “word made flesh”.[3] The Ten Commandments are a part of that revelation so they are more than rules designed to tell us what to do and how to live.  They also tell us something about the nature and character of God.  They integrate social order with cosmic order.  That is why we pray each Sunday, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”[4]

            The second commandment tells us something very specific about the nature and character of God, which we ought to heed to our benefit lest we ignore to our peril.  Before we explore its meaning, let us pray:

            By your Word and Spirit, speak to us, O Lord, so that we may better understand you and so better understand ourselves.  Let our worship be directed toward you and you alone we pray.  Amen.

            Last week I began this series of sermons on the Ten Commandments. The first commandment determines, “Whom do we worship?”  The second commandment speaks to the question, “How do we worship?”  This must be important because this is the only commandment that ends with a blessing that follows obedience and a curse for neglect.

            It begins, “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth below.”  This could refer two different sins.  It could mean that we are not permitted to make a physical representation, to paint a picture or carve a statue of God almighty maker of heaven and earth, or it could refer to worship of a picture or statue of another god, or it could mean both.

            Let’s consider the first.  Moses you remember received these commandments, this light for our journey on Mount Sinai.  He was up there for a long time, about six weeks during which he prayed, meditated and communed with the Lord.  For him this was literally a mountaintop experience that changed his life.

            Down below though, the people grew restless.   Their leader was missing and they didn’t know what to do.  Remember, freedom for them was a new experience and so it was little scary.  They were used to taking orders from the masters in Egypt, so it was easy to transfer their loyalty to a new leader in Moses - but he was nowhere to be found.  They began to mumble and grumble and talk about the good old days in Egypt when they at least had something to eat and a roof over their heads.[5]

            Aaron, the smooth talking second-in-command became nervous about this discontent and worried they might revolt and turn their anger on him.  So, when some of these malcontents said to Aaron, “Come let us make gods who will go before us.” Aaron, a leader who only followed the latest polls, thought this was a good idea because it would give the people something on which the people might focus the fears so he said, “Great idea, “take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”[6]
 
            Now it is interesting to note that everyone was called to make a sacrifice except Aaron and the other clan leaders.  While the wives and children of the people threw their valuables into the pot, Aaron and his leadership team evidently held onto their own.  That would not the last time a leader called the people to make a sacrifice he was not willing to make.

            Anyway, scripture says they threw all their jewelry into a pot and melted it down, poured it into a mold in the shape of a calf.  Then they said, “These are you gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”[7]  They sacrificed a lamb to this statue and then threw a big party, because what else are you going to do with lamb chops mutton after you’ve barbequed them for you god?

            Now, don’t miss the point here.  As far as Aaron was concerned this golden calf did not represent a new god.  Aaron used the same name for this god as he did for the Lord who brought them out of Egypt.  He was still worshipping the right God, but he was doing it in the wrong way. 

            We know this because when the Lord told Moses that the people had already obliterated the first and second commandments, Moses stormed down the mountain, crashed their party, and smashed the tablets containing these commandments against a rock, and then kicked the golden calf into the fire.

            Aaron, sensitive soul that he was, realized he might have done something wrong, but you have to admire his pluck, because he then explained to Moses how it wasn’t really his fault. He was just giving the people what they wanted. He was going with the flow.  He went along to get along.  Then he said, and you can look it up in the Bible, “They gave me their gold, I threw it into the fire and poof, presto change-o, out popped a golden calf.”[8]  It was amazing, he said, a miracle! 

            That’s what happens when you start worshipping God in the wrong way. Truth takes a back seat to experience.  Spiritual growth becomes secondary.  Feelings are what matter and the desire for reaching yet another spiritual “high” becomes primary.  The important question becomes, “How did this worship experience make me feel?”

When that happens faith becomes utterly dependent on and intertwined with the way we feel at a particular moment. It will then bounce up and down like a rudderless ship on the sea.  Christmas Eve candlelight and “Silent Night” leaves us feeling, “God is in his heaven and all is right with the world.”  A month later though when the hymns are not to your liking and the preaching isn’t quite hitting it and you begin to wonder if God is here at all.

            Now, don’t misunderstand. Right worship is not limited to a particular liturgy or form of worship.  It does not matter if you pray with your hands held high in the air or folded on your lap. It is not defined by words that are written down or by tongues that flow freely.  Right worship may be loud and demonstrative or may be soft and reflective.   It may use organs or guitars or no instruments at all. Right worship is right because it accepts no substitutes.  Jesus said, “True worshipper worship the Father in Spirit and in truth.”[9]  Faith linked to Spirit and Truth then becomes more a matter of trust than feelings.  It is confidence born from the conviction that the Lord will never leave nor forsake and belief in his promise “that he will be where two or three are gathered in his name.”[10]
           
            The second form of idolatry that this command forbids was best described by and commonly attributed to Augustine, a fourth century Christian theologian.  He said, “Idolatry is worshipping anything that ought to be used and using the one who ought to be worshipped.”

            A good example of that is also found in the exodus story.  Remember, as a result of their disobedience of this second commandment, God forbade that generation to enter the Promised Land and so they wandered in the wilderness for forty years.  In this barren land there were snakes, lots of snake, poisonous snakes.  With all these people rambling around it was inevitable some of them got bit, so they asked Moses for a snakebite kit.  He didn’t have one so he asked the Lord and the Lord told Moses to craft a snake made of bronze, put it on a pole and hold it up.  It someone got bit they were to simply look at the pole and they would be healed.[11]  So, they did and it worked for as long as they languished in the wilderness.

            That’s the last we see of that pole for seven hundred years. In the book of Second Kings Hezekiah assumes the throne, but he inherited a kingdom that was morally corrupt and spiritually bankrupt.  He hoped to light a fire of revival in his county because he believed the important challenges any country faces are often more spiritual than political.
           
So, one of the first things he did was to take Moses’ snake-on-a-stick and smash it to bits.  Why?  Sometime during those past seven hundred years people began to worship the stick rather than the Lord. They even gave it a name – “Nehushtan.[12]  They substituted a thing for God. 

            That is our great temptation.  All of us prefer to worship that which we can make with our own hands, because then we can control it.  We can shape it, change it and manipulate it to stand for what we want so that we can do what we want to do.  Even if that means we take off our clothes in public for the purpose of tempting others into sin. 

That’s why we say, “My god thinks it is O.K., if your god doesn’t, well that’s too bad!” But, the Apostle Paul warned us, “not to exchange the truth about God for a lie, lest we worship created things rather than the Creator.”[13]  While we prefer to fashion gods in our image, because idols make no demands, we must remember they can neither forgive or heal or save or guide.  Better we allow ourselves to be molded into his image than shaping his into ours.

            The next part of this command causes consternation for some, “you shall make for yourself any graven image, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.”[14] 

            Today, jealousy is usually seen as a petty and possessive causing all kinds of problems in relationships.  Some of you may have been victims of that kind of confining control, so the notion that God is like some insecure suitor is troubling.

            To be protective is not always a bad thing though, for if you love someone and truly see a danger ahead you do want to warn him or her.  Parents feel that way every time their teenager takes the family car out for the first time. They know their kids will hear other voices from friends and even enemies who will encourage them to go faster and farther than they should.  They know the movies they watch and the songs they listen to make light of drinking and driving, but parents are jealous and hope their children will heed their advice alone and not that of another sixteen year old.  They hope they will follow the rules of the road because they know the consequences of not following for even one thoughtless moment can be severe. It can be a matter of life or death.

            That may be why this fearful curse is added at the end, “the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation will be visited on those who hate me”, says the Lord.  This is not the American way.  Children are not held responsible for the debts or the crimes of their parents.  To do so strikes us as unfair.  Even scripture itself speaks to that notion.  In Deuteronomy we read, “Only for his or her own crimes may a person be put to death.”[15] 
The prophet Ezekiel confirms this understanding.[16]

            So, what are we to make of this verse?  Well, I’m not sure, but I do know our actions bear consequences not only for us, but also for those who are close to us.  Any student of family dynamics will tell you that family traits and attitudes both good and bad make their way down through the generations.

            I understood that the first time I heard my father’s voice come through mine when I began to teach my boys the way I thought they should go.  I began to say things to them that my father said to me when I was growing up, and that’s when I realized our parents live in us long after we’ve moved out of the house and long after they’re gone.  So, it is important we think about what we say and teach our children.

            The Lord wants the best for you and doesn’t want you to settle for second best and that’s why these words are so strong.  God gave us Ten Commandments and the first deal with worship because God knows worship is the window to our souls.  It reveals what we really care about.

            One of the ways we figure that out each Sunday morning is by what question we ask.  If it is, “What did I get out of this?” then the focus is clearly on you and your feelings and that’s a shallow pool.  If it is, “What did I bring to the Lord?” then you’ve rightly seen this as time and attention given to God.  You’ve rightly understood that worship is a matter of spirit and truth and those waters run deep.

            So, we must choose, not between “my god and your god”, but between the Lord God maker of heaven and earth and all the other voices we hear, all the other demands for our time and attention, all the other things and even people who would usurp the Lord’s place and presence in our lives.  We must decide if we “will have no other gods before the Lord”. We must choose to worship the Lord in “spirit and truth” and so refrain from the temptation to devote the most important part of ourselves to things, or people, or even our own feelings. 

            Do so and God promises, “To show love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”[17]  That is a promise you can hold onto now and forever.  Amen.



[1] Genesis 14:19
[2] Deuteronomy 6:4
[3] John 1:14
[4] Matthew 6:13
[5] Exodus 16
[6] Exodus 32:2
[7] Exodus 32:4
[8] Exodus 32:24
[9] John 4:23
[10] Matthew 18:20
[11] Numbers 21:4-9
[12] II Kings 18:4
[13] Romans 1:25
[14] Exodus 20:4
[15] Deuteronomy 24:16
[16] Ezekiel 18:4
[17] Exodus 20:6